Cranberry Green Tea Smoothie

February 27, 2015

Can anyone please help me identify what is that yellowish blob in that Tupperware container sitting in the back of my freezer?
Is it soup? Sorbet? Mashed potatoes maybe?
Who knows, who knows…
And what about those depressing looking freezer-burned veggie burgers. How long have they been lurking there? Months, years, decades?
Maybe I shouldn’t have started cleaning out my freezer, it was not a great idea after all.
These encounters are starting to get scary.

In my mind the freezer is some sort of magical place, able to preserve any food for pretty much forever.
Today I’ve learned - after all the depressing encounters - that it’s not.
You can’t simply throw food in there waiting for the right time to eat it.
There must be structure, a system in the freezer. You need to know what best fits where.
Food must be organized so that it’s easy to retrieve it later.
Like grouping meats together in one area and frozen vegetables and fruit together in another area.
On top of that, everything must be labeled with names and dates. Even if you know what something is today, and you’re convinced you’ll know what it still is later. Chances are, you won’t remember it. Because we all sleep, and we tend to forget things when we sleep.
And before thawing something you need to know what it is and for how long it has been sitting in your freezer.

So my project for this weekend is to clean and restock my freezer [Yes, I have a very exciting life!]
I already started taking some stuff out this morning and wiping down the shelving inside the main area and the doors.
As I was cleaning out I found an unusually large amount of frozen cranberries lurking in the back of the freezer.
Apparently, like a reticent squirrel, I’ve been hoarding cranberries. I don’t know why though.
Seriously, I rarely buy frozen cranberries. Maybe one bag at Thanksgiving - to make cranberry sauce - but other than that, I’m clueless where they come from. Maybe there’s a secret portal in the freezer, leading to frozen cranberry-land???

Anyways, to put this overabundance of frozen cranberries to good use, I made myself a dope Cranberry Green Tea Smoothie (aka the antioxidant bomb smoothie.)
And it was delicious, in all respects.
To offset the cranberries’ tartness and green tea’s slight bitterness I blended them with some strawberries, a banana, and I also added a tablespoon of maple syrup.
All in all, a tasty and healthy smoothie with a very pretty red-flecked pink color.
Slight tart, super creamy, not too filling, and packed with nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants to keep your immune system strong.

I'm in desperate need of a freezer system! I just chuck leftovers in there w/o labels thinking 'oh I'll remember' - right... my freezer needs serious help! At least it contains everything I need to make this smoothie tomorrow! :)

Lololol! This post cracked me up! I try to clean the fridge once a week, but I too end up peering into the depths wondering what that 'blob' in the back is....? Too funny. At least you got a tasty looking smoothie out of the whole experience! :-)

Another yummy sounding smoothie! I would have to add some protein to make it worth eating (personal preference). After that raspberry/grapefruit smoothie, I think I'd try any smoothie you put out there (within reason…) :-)

Moving places = eat out your entire freezer and find some classics in there. I swear for a week straight, I had a different granola bar/baked good for snacks. The dinner before the move was borderline freezer burnt baguettes and a couple of jaw breaking paleo cookies.

Yum - I never thought to make a cranberry smoothie. I always buy fresh then freeze my cranberries and whip up some cranberry jam until they run out. I also cleaned my freezer this weekend deciding to eat leftovers for the week - so I will get to be surprised what lunches will be :)

Whta a beautiful color your smoothies have - bright pinkish - very photogenic I must say. I do tend to consume rather large amounts of green tea and I do not mind its slight bitterness, as a matter of fact I actually like it but I imagine in combination with cranberries I would also add some sweetness and your choices of maple syrup and bananas (and strawberries) sounds utterly delicious- what a treat of a smoothie!Have a great week,Andrea

Dude...this smoothie looks amazing! I'm digging the flavor combo for sure. But let's talk about freezers...I'd be embarassed for anyone to actually see my freezer. There's so much random stuff hiding in there. 3 cupcakes leftover from 2 months ago (but they're too good to throw away!). A big bag of chopped green bell peppers from last year's garden. (Apparently bell peppers like our garden...we had WAY too many this year.) Oh, and not to mention the 9 pounds of pulled pork that I made last Fall to get us through the winter. Did I say 9? I meant 11. Great post, Mike! #WolfpackFreezes

This smoothie looks amazing and I am willing to bet so delicious. I guess I will be putting cranberries on my shopping list this week to try this bad boy out! and as far as freezers go....luckily I just cleaned both my fridge and freezer out so I no longer have mysteries floating around in there BUT when I was cleaning out the freezer I did find some unrecognizable pieces of what I think was at one time meatballs?? Don't remember the last time I had meatballs......so I could be wrong...LOL!

Very smart to add the green tea in a smoothie, an easy way to get all the nutritients all in one! And since me and my fiance love cranberries I think it is going to be a hit. :) Gonna try it right away.

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